The provincial government has pitched in with financial support to help find a vaccine for COVID-19.
On Wednesday, the government announced they are providing $200,000 to the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) at the University of Saskatchewan to develop a cure after it was ruled a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
Tina Beaudry-Mellor, minister responsible for Innovation Saskatchewan, said the vaccine centre is known as a global leader.
“They have done research with partners around the world including the World Health Organization, Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,” explained Beaudry-Mellor.
The research centre is known on their work on vaccines for SARS and the Zeka virus among other projects.
“It’s an amazing Saskatchewan story. It’s an important research tool from Saskatchewan’s perspective, it’s something we can contribute to the world, and we have this facility right here in our province.”
The minister said they are at the stage of doing trials on animals and there are plans to move to human trials shortly.
Earlier this week, the federal government announced their financial support for the cause by committing almost $27 million. VIDO InterVac received nearly a million dollars out of that commitment.
